Somewhere in the thick cloud over north west America, on his way to Seattle the pilot suddenly loses many of the plane's vital systems. The compass, his GPS and the radio are all out. What's more, he's unfamiliar with this particular route. The plane needs to land soon, because there's not that much fuel left. They're lost and they have to find the airport pronto.
All they've got is a street map of Seattle - which could help, if only they can work out exactly where they are, to find their way to the runway. As they break through the low cloud, nothing looks familiar.
Suddenly up ahead the pilot spots a tall office building and has an idea. Grabbing a piece of paper, he writes, "WHERE AM I?" and holds it up to the window as he flies as close as he dares to the skyscraper. Quickly turning the plane round for a second pass, this time there's someone holding up a sign saying... "IN A PLANE!".
At which the pilot heaves a sigh of relief has a quick look at the map and minutes later lands safely at Seattle airport.
The navigator asks the pilot: "That was brilliant, but how did you know where we were?"
"Easy. When I saw the sign, the answer was technically correct but completely useless - it just had to be the Microsoft Technical Support building"
All they've got is a street map of Seattle - which could help, if only they can work out exactly where they are, to find their way to the runway. As they break through the low cloud, nothing looks familiar.
Suddenly up ahead the pilot spots a tall office building and has an idea. Grabbing a piece of paper, he writes, "WHERE AM I?" and holds it up to the window as he flies as close as he dares to the skyscraper. Quickly turning the plane round for a second pass, this time there's someone holding up a sign saying... "IN A PLANE!".
At which the pilot heaves a sigh of relief has a quick look at the map and minutes later lands safely at Seattle airport.
The navigator asks the pilot: "That was brilliant, but how did you know where we were?"
"Easy. When I saw the sign, the answer was technically correct but completely useless - it just had to be the Microsoft Technical Support building"